Late Night Consoling

In a fuller translation of yesterday's Impress Watch interview with Sony Computer Entertainment head Ken Kutaragi, additional comments going beyond the PS3's planned die shrink were revealed. Kutaragi spoke on his desire to see the Cell processor, which currently powers PS3, used in a variety of other products. While Cell processors for PS3 contain eight cores, seven of which are active, Kutaragi noted that fewer cores could be used in other applications, which he believes are far reaching. "We have to computerize home electronics," he said. "Currently this is not the case. This is the real problem." As an example, he pointed to televisions. "As a terminal, consider the flatscreen televisions in ordinary households. If you turn all these televisions into computers, the potential broadens greatly," said Kutaragi, adding, "One wrong move, and Intel and [Steve] Jobs will walk off with everything."

Back on the subject of video games, Kutaragi pointed to Sony's success in gaming. "We're kind of the stepson of the industry... But that's why people find us so interesting," he said. "The world would be a cold place indeed without the PlayStation." Fittingly, Kutaragi also spoke on the considerable cooling demands of the system, noting that power consumption is one factor that will have to be improved before PS3 can be "cheap and small." According to Kutaragi, the console will use standard cooling methods rather than proprietary ones. Still, it is a costly solution. "We're spending a lot on heat and electromagnetic interference [management]. The power supply could almost be sold separately," he said.

Double Fine's award-winning Psychonauts, created by Full Throttle (PC) and Grim Fandango (PC) designer Tim Schafer, was released last year on Xbox, PlayStation 2, and PC. However, the game started development as a Microsoft first party Xbox exclusive before being dropped and then later picked up and released by Majesco. Now, Schafer is calling on his former publisher to add the game to Xbox 360's backwards compatibility list, after yesterday's update did not contain the game.

"You know, if it would help, we'd be willing to fly all our engineers up to Seattle, and they'd do all the programming!" wrote Schafer on his company's Double Fine Action News. "Or, they could just tell you exactly how our engine works, and we could probably get it running on the 360 in just a few hours!" Microsoft maintains an internal team which creates backwards compatibility code, and the company's stated policy is to work independently of the developers of the Xbox games in question.

Schafer also made a request to gamers:

"I want you to get up. I want you to walk over to your window right now. I want you to open your window up, and then I want you to stick your head out, and then I want you to take in a nice breath of fresh air, and then I want you to close that window and walk back to your computer and click on this link and send Microsoft a heartfelt message. Something to the effect of, 'I am a 9-year-old boy in the hospital, dying of consumption, and my last wish is to play Psychonauts on my XBOX 360!' (Please, try to make up your own disease.)"

Sponsored by Best Buy and facilitated by the Global Gaming League, Activision will be holding an online Call of Duty 2 tournament through Xbox 360's Xbox Live. Infinity Ward's World War II shooter sequel is currently the most played Xbox 360 online multiplayer title, and was the system's best selling game at launch. Up to 512 teams of four each will be accepted; players can register as a team or individually to be placed in a team later. Entrants must own a copy of Call of Duty 2, be at least 18 years of age, and be Xbox Live Gold subscribers.

To sign up, head over to the tournament's official site. Registration ends June 16. The single-elimination tournament will run from June 21 to June 23.

Atari has announced that applications are being accepted for a closed public beta test on the PlayStation 2 version of Eden Games' Test Drive Unlimited (PS2, X360, PSP, PC). Gamers accepted to the beta program will be required to sign non-disclosure agreements. To participate, a PlayStation 2 with a network adapter, or a Slim PS2 with included network adapter, is required.

To apply for the beta test, head over to Atari's official site. For impressions on the Xbox 360 version of the game, check out Shacknews' preview.

Following DS Lite's official release in North America this Sunday, Nintendo has released early sales figures for the hardware. In its first two days in retail, the console sold over 136,500 units, which Nintendo claims is on track with the launch numbers for the original Nintendo DS, and a 12% increase over early sales for 2003's redesigned Game Boy Advance SP.

On the software front, flagship title New Super Mario Bros. doubled in sales over the previous week, and Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day tripled in sales over the previous week. Specific sales figures for the games were not given, though they were the #1 and #3 best selling console games in the month of May.

Game Informer has a video interview with publisher RedOctane's John Tam, speaking on Harmonix's upcoming Guitar Hero II (PS2).

GameSpot takes a look at Xbox 360's Backwards Compatibility.